According to Captain G. F. L. Marshall it breeds in March and April in the Saharunpoor 

 district, and the nest is generally placed about 3 or 4 feet from the ground. 



Mr. Brooks tells us that this species " is seen occasionally in the valleys near Almorah. On 

 the banks of a small river there I found a nest of this bird being built in May. The bird lays in 

 March in the plains." 



Mr. R. M. Adam records it as " very common about Sambhur ; it breeds during the month 

 of April and up to June. It is curious how fond these birds are of tacking on pieces of paper, 

 and here and there a bright-coloured feather from a Paroquet or a Roller on the outside of their 

 nests. When in Agra a bird of this species built a nest on a loose piece of thatch-cord in my 

 verandah ; and on the side of the nest, stuck on like a signboard, was a piece of torn-up letter 

 with 'My dear Adam' on it." This nest was begun on the 18th of April; and "on the 26th," 

 he observes, " I found the bird sitting on the nest, and I presumed it had eggs ; on the 27th for 

 the first time I saw the male bird near the nest. All through the time of construction, so far as 

 my observations went, he never assisted the female in the slightest degree. Now he seemed 

 exceedingly happy, fluttering now and then about the nest ; and after each careful inspection he 

 was seemingly so pleased with the handiwork of his mate that he perched on an adjoining branch 

 and poured forth a joyous strain, napping his wings and making his axillary feathers rotate in 

 the most extraordinary manner. On the 13th of May the young were hatched; and I never once 

 observed the male coming near the nest to feed them ; about the 24th the birds were well fledged. 

 It does seem strange that the male of this species should not take any part in the construction 

 of the nest, the hatching, or the rearing of the young; but I presume the reason of this is 

 that his conspicuous plumage about the nest would attract the attention of birds that might 

 destroy it." 



The normal number of eggs in a nest is two. 



So much do the eggs vary that the two extremes of a good series could hardly be believed to 

 pertain to the same species. In shape they are typically a moderately broad oval, considerably 

 pointed towards one end. The ground-colour is greenish, greyish, or brownish white, in some 

 but little, in others almost entirely, obscured by the markings. A certain number of the eggs 

 are pretty uniformly speckled and freckled over the whole surface; but in the majority the 

 markings are densest towards the larger end, where many exhibit more or less perfect caps or 

 zones, and to which locality in some few specimens the markings are exclusively confined. 

 Mr. Hume then likens the colouring to that of the eggs of the Sedge- Warbler, Wagtails, and 

 Larks, and gives as the average measurements 064 by - 46 inch. 



